1 6 The Strenuous Life 



any new fighting-ships for the navy. If, during the 

 years to come, any disaster should befall our arms, 

 afloat or ashore, and thereby any shame come to the 

 United States, remember that the blame will He 

 upon the men whose names appear upon the roll- 

 calls of Congress on the wrong side of these great 

 questions. On them will lie the burden of any loss 

 of our soldiers and sailors, of any dishonor to the 

 flag; and upon you and the people of this country 

 will lie the blame if you do not repudiate, in no un 

 mistakable way, what these men have done. The 

 blame will not rest upon the untrained commander 

 of untried troops, upon the civil officers of a depart 

 ment the organization of which has been left utterly 

 inadequate, or upon the admiral with an insufficient 

 number of ships ; but upon the public men who have 

 so lamentably failed in forethought as to refuse to 

 remedy these evils long in advance, and upon the 

 nation that stands behind those public men. 



So, at the present hour, no small share of the re 

 sponsibility for the blood shed in the Philippines, the 

 blood of our brothers, and the blood of their wild 

 and ignorant foes, lies at the thresholds of those who 

 so long delayed the adoption of the treaty of peace, 

 and of those who by their worse than foolish words 

 deliberately invited a savage people to plunge into 

 a war fraught with sure disaster for them a war, 

 too, in which our own brave men who follow the flag 



